1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical card edge connector for electrically interconnecting a daughter board with a mother board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,195 discloses an electrical card edge connector having an engaging arm outwardly extending from a longitudinal end of an insulative housing thereof and defining a through hole to align with a notch defined in a longitudinal edge of an inserted daughter board. A locking member extends through the notch of the inserted daughter board and the through hole of the engaging arm to prevent the daughter board from escaping from the electrical card edge connector.
Electronic devices are made more and more lighter, shorter, thinner and smaller to comply with the present miniaturization trend in the electronic field while are also required to transmit information more and more faster and in more and more larger quantity. Mother boards of the electronic devices and electrical connectors mounted on the mother boards and communicating the mother boards with other electronic devices or other components of the electronic devices are made smaller than before, and the density of the electrical connectors on each mother board is increased.
Therefore, when the electrical card edge connector of U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,195 is mounted to a mother board having a high density of electrical connectors mounted thereon, it is often difficult to insert the locking member through the through hole and the notch of the inserted daughter board to retain the daughter in position because of closely located neighboring electrical connectors. Furthermore, the card edge connector has to rely on the separate locking member to retain the daughter board thereto, thereby increasing the number of components thereof.
Therefore, an improved electrical card edge connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
A major object of the present invention is to provide a structurally simplified electrical card edge connector which easily retains an inserted daughter board.
An electrical card edge connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of electrical contacts. The insulative housing comprises a pair of opposite longitudinal sides, a pair of opposite lateral sides connecting with the longitudinal sides and a central slot confined by the longitudinal and the lateral sides. Each lateral side is formed with a pair of arms in an upper portion thereof and extending upwardly beyond a top of the longitudinal side, and a slit between the arms to secure an inserted daughter board to the electrical card edge connector. The electrical contacts are accommodated in the longitudinal sides and are exposed to the central slot to electrically connect with the inserted daughter board.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.